Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-03-19
TERRIBLE HOLOCAUST.
A CROWDED HOTEL DESTROYED
BY FIRE
Heartrending Scenes-Many Persons
Burned to Death and, Others Badly
Notwithstanding Incidents.
Ipr TELEGRAPH TO THE npcoRD-us1os.l

BUFFALO, March 1sth.-The Richmond
Hotel and the st. James Hall were burned
early this morning. The house contained
a large number of guests, and their heart
rending shrieks could plainly be heard.
Ladders were raised as soon as possible,
and as many as could be were taken out.
A large number of them were unable to
effect their escape. At o'clock the entire
Richmond the So. James Hall and other
! property in the, block were doomed to
speedy destruction. The whole place
burned like tinder. The corridor in the
center of the building acted as a great
funnel, and as the flames streamed up
wards the guests found themselves i'm
| prisoned by walls of fire.
The screams of the unfortunates could
| be heard for blocks, and at many of the
windows they could be seen in their night
clothes calling wildly for help. At one of
the third-hoor windows TIVE guests were
seen by the crowd to fall back into the
| flames. One man jumped from the fifth
| floor to the roof of a twostory building
adjoining. He was seriously injured.
The Fitch Hospital contains eight men
and one woman. All are in bad condi-
ton and more or less seriously injured.
All are from out OF town. except the We
man. Two of the injured are at the Sisters
| Hospital. There are also four injured per-
sons at the General Hospital.
The rapidity OF the fire cutting off all
means of escape led some persons to leap
for life from the windows. Others got down
! the fire escapes or on ladders raised by the
| fire department. The shrieks and cries of
the poor people in the upper stories of the
| burning structure were heartrendiDg. One
man, mad with terror, leaped from the
| third-story window, and was picked up
| from the sidewalk on Main street mangled
| and bleeding corpse. Several who sue
| ceeded in making their escape were badly
| injured and burned, and some of them will
probably die. Others, more fortunate,
escaped with but slight injuries. 1t is now
| believed that at least twelve persons were
| burned to death.
There were 125 persons in the hotel. 20 of
whom were transient guests, eight boarders,
and the remainder porters, bell-boys. fami-
| lies of the propTietors and clerks. Twenty
| two of these were rescued from windows by
the firemen. Twenty-Five are at the hos
| pitals, and a large number made their
| escape by other means. The origin of the
| fire is not yet known.
William H. Alfort, the night clerk, says
1.-THE fire started in the cloak-room, under
the main stairway, at $50 o'clock. There
was nobody up but myself, the night porter
and the bell boy. pulled all four of the
fire alarms on the different floors, and the
people came flying down stairs in their
night clothes. The fire followed up the ele-
vator, and inside of five minutes it reached
the top floor. | rushed out of the door after
doing all l could
The spread of the flames was frightful in
its rapidity. The elevator shaft served as
| fiue for the flames, and the whole structure
was enveloped in few moments. AS the
guests were aroused and saw the interior
| exit cut off, they turned to the windows
They could be seen standing out clear and
| vivid before the iurid background of the
| flames. Their screams were horrible to
| hear, and they could be heard for blocks.
| The firemen did noble work, and confined
| the fire to the narrow limits of the three
| buildings named. Their work of rescue
had many exciting incidents.
Hugo V. Altshul, of New York, assisted
a number of women from the burning
building. He then made his own escape
i 5y jumping from one building to another
until he reached the corner of Washington
and North Division streets, and thus
| gained the pavement.
! VIM. ]. Mann, one of the proprietors of
the house, and his wife, had a thrilling ex-
perience in getting out. Mrs Mann was
! terribly burned about the head, arms and
! legs. Their little daughter Jennie was also
badly burned.
Five girls who roomed on the fifth floor
made rope out of bedclothes, and hung it
! out of a window, but none seemed to have
the courage to start AT last one of the five
| took hold and SWING down to the window
! ledge, from which she was rescued. Three
! others came down in the same manner, and
then the fifth girl started down. She had
gone but little distance when the rope
| parted, and down she went four stories.
i Strange to say she was not killed. Her legs
were terribly bruised, her back badly in
! jured, and her face and arms were in a
! frightful condition from burns.
William A. Haven, of Helena, Montana,
was burned about the hands, feet and face,
and is suffering from the shock. He is
| Chief Engineer of the Northern Pacific
! Railroad.
! Mark Osborne, day clerk and assistant
manager of the hotel, is missing. 1t is be-
lieved he perished.
| r. H. Hunes, who occupied a room on
! the third floor, was awakened by the cleo
! tric bells, and, after arousing several people
| on the same floor, jumped through a win
dow to the kitchen roof. There everything
was in flames. Others were on the same
| roof. He made a rush for the Eagle-street
| and out through the flames and escaped.
| He left five persons on the kitchen roof,
! and thinks they must all have perished, as
/ they did not attempt to follow him through
the flames. -Four are dead among those
who jumped from the building-William
/ Purcell broker of this city, an unknown
/ man and two unknown women.
Whitaker reports that large amount of
diamonds were in the hotel last night. B.
| Robinson, of Lambert & Co., had stock
valued at $4,000 deposited in the safe.
! A. NJ. Adler had in his room $4,000
| worth, and A. NJ. smith had another con-
! siderable stock, but the amount was not
! known.
I LATER.-THIRTY PERSONS BELIEVED TO HAVE
PERIsHED.
| BUFFALO, March 1Sth-P. M.-As far as
| can be ascertained the dead are as follows:
/ Katie Kent, Minnie Kelly and Katie Pearce,
servants; Wilson Purcell, Markos Borne
| (dav clerk at the hotel), Mr.. Johnson and
Katie Wolf Servant, of Rockport.) The
/ dying are Jacob Kahn, of New York
! Henry Ramsey, of New York; Maggie
Mulrach, of Buffalo; Mary Nolan, of Buff
falo and Edward Wheelan, of Newburgh.
] A servant girl named Walsh is believed
also to be among the dead.
| The walls of the burned building
| are menace to life, and until they are
! razed and the ruins cooled, no search for
/ bodies can be made. 1t is undoubtedly
| fact that at least thirty persons perished.
The total loss by the fire will be 100000
on the hotel and Museum buildings, which
were insured for $4,000.
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